Monday, May 29, 2017

This year at the IEEE Team Steampunk took home the Gold in the in the Di Vinci Drawing Contest and 3rd place in the Sumo Contest. It was EPIC!!! There were over 400 students participating from all over Ottawa. The Mayor was there!!! (tricky seeing as we jsut wrote him a complain letter about the flag fiasco....)

These victories were huge achievements - they represented hours and hours of work and perseverance and later bedtimes and missed recreation. I am ridiculously proud and so thankful for these smart, kind, dedicated boys.

And to the Steampunk Supervisor - You are the best dad we could ask for. I hope these boys are half the man you are.

Monday, May 22, 2017

Thanks, as always, to the Mains, and their continual tolerance of ... generosity to us - We managed to split the majority of the wood we need for the next two winters. The bugs were HORRIBLE and it was hateful work at times, but it was also a blessing to be able to work at something together. There is not much a family ranging from age 6 to 39 can productively do together, but splitting and stacking wood is one of them.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Cor 15:58

Friday, May 12, 2017

Well, it rhymes? Maybe we really do need to look at a re-write of the anthem. Along with removing the words, "God keep our land" we can reassess whether or not we are a free nation.This is screen shot of what CBC reported as victory against the pro-life movement's "March for Life" flag. The sad thing is that I voted for Jim Watson. I thought he was a good, moderate candidate. I thought he would defend liberty for citizens. No one is saying that we must all be pro-life supporters. If you are pro-abortion, you can have a protest right under the flag and you can throw tomatoes, eggs or gender neutral pronouns at the flag. G'ahead. It's your right. But it is other Ottawa Citizens' right to follow due process, apply for a permit, as Mr Barrett did, and have the flag raised to celebrate a nation-wide cause.It was up for less than 4 hours.Unbelievable. Has anyone got an extra copy of 1984?

Thursday, May 11, 2017

It has been a crazy wet and rainy May. Poor Ottawa is really hurting. Bridges closed. People forced out of their homes. Every time I wanted to complain about another wet day, Jason would remind me of families living in temporary housing while their homes are inundated with water.

So we are patiently waiting for the nice weather and being thankful.

Essy letting Jane win at Candyland.

Esther's first extended chapter book was, The End of the Beginning by AVI. I remember Cole reading the same book. Full circle

Window tangrams. Math, sort of....

I have no idea what this is. The boys have been preparing for their IEEE competition next month. The house is full of USB cables and weird bots and the computer is always taken....